Evidence grows that Perry wants change at UT

When asked about reports that Gov. Rick Perry had asked regents to fire UT's president, his spokesman said that “personnel decisions are made by the board, not thegovernor.”

On the weekend of Super Bowl Sunday, Gov. Rick Perry's then-chief of staff called state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, to share some disturbing news.

The University of Texas regents planned to meet in a special telephone emergency session to discuss a new report that assistant football coach Major Applewhite had sexual relations with an adult student during the team's trip to the 2009 Fiesta Bowl.

Zaffirini said that when she questioned the need for such an extraordinary meeting to discuss a four-year-old incident, the chief of staff, Ann Bishop, told her the regents were resolute.

“The regents don't want this to become another Penn State situation,” Zaffirini recalled Bishop telling her.

To those who have followed the mounting tempest between the University of Texas and the Aggie-graduate governor, the inflammatory comparison provided more evidence that Perry — and his appointees — are on a mission to fire William C. Powers, the well-regarded president of the University of Texas at Austin.

To spotlight Applewhite's indiscretion would undermine the man at the helm of the institution that employs him. After all, the Sandusky affair cost the president of Penn Sate his job.

What started years ago as a philosophical difference between Perry and Powers about the role of public universities had officially devolved into a torrid sex scandal: The revelation of Applewhite's indiscretion took on special significance because university officials had just sacked track coach Bev Kearney for an affair with a student athlete on her team; an anonymous letter turned up suggesting that Powers could not clean house because he dated his future wife while she was a student at the UT law school and he was a professor there.

Last week, sources confirmed that Perry has communicated through emissaries that Powers should resign to avoid an embarrassing regents vote to fire him.

Powers declined to comment for this story.

Asked about reports that the governor had asked his regents to dismiss Powers, Perry spokesman Josh Havens said, “Personnel decisions are made by the board, not the governor.”

When asked if Perry had compared the Applewhite incident to Penn State, Havens replied, “Board of regents carry the responsibility to ensure a safe and responsive environment on each of their campuses, and the governor expects them to uphold that responsibility.”

Since early February, two regents publicly have demonstrated distrust of Powers — chastising him in public meetings for personnel decisions, making massive, sweeping document requests and prohibiting UT-Austin employees from deleting any emails.

On Wednesday, those regents — Wallace Hall and Brenda Pejovich of Dallas — were joined by two others in voting to spend a half-million dollars to reopen an investigation into the law school foundation's controversial “forgivable loan program.”

Former law school dean Larry Sager was replaced after it was discovered he had obtained a $500,000 “forgivable loan” from the privately funded law school foundation. An investigation by the UT System — backed by the state attorney general's office — found no wrongdoing on Powers' part.

Regent Steve Hicks of Austin accused his colleagues of searching for a way to discredit Powers. In veiled language, he challenged his fellow regents to take an up-or-down vote to fire Powers.

“It would be simpler to me, instead of spending the money. If that's the real goal, let's just put that on the table and deal with it,” Hicks said. After the meeting, Hicks posted on Facebook that he was “embarrassed” to be a UT regent.

Regents Chairman Gene Powell was absent from the meeting, but he said in an email that he concurred with reopening the investigation.

He also denied that Perry had asked the board of regents to fire Powers.

Last month, the hostilities spilled into public view when Powers' political friends gave ringing endorsements in legislative resolutions listing his accomplishments as UT president and when Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst teared up and said Powers was the victim of “character assassination.” A special joint committee of the House and Senate was formed to investigate “micro-managing” by the UT regents of Powers' administration.

Legislators are prepped for a fight: Zaffirini has made her own open records request, demanding to see UT System emails relating to Powers. Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, sent a letter urging regents not to waste taxpayer money on an unneeded investigation but to ask the attorney general to review the matter.

Zaffirini said she believed the regents were hoping to make life miserable enough that Powers would resign. In fact, several key administrators have resigned their positions in recent months, including UT System general counsel Barry Burgdorf, author of the initial law school foundation investigation, and Steve Leslie, UT vice president and provost, whose office has been inundated with data requests by the regents.

“It clearly amounts to harassment,” Zaffirini said. She noted that the new legislative task force on university governance had just admonished the UT regents to drop any “witch hunts.”

Why would Perry want to fire the Harvard-educated Powers, who recently was chosen as next president of the Association of American Universities, the nation's consortium of leading research universities?

It might have roots in a May 2008 summit led by Perry contributor and Austin businessman Jeff Sandefer, a former UT adjunct business professor who developed a new model for higher education.

Sandefer instantly drew controversy by insisting that colleges rate their professors by what they “earn” their institutions, based on the number of students they taught. Critics said that system undervalued professors engaged in research or teaching complex subjects to small groups.

In 2011, Perry's new appointees to the UT board began pushing Sandefer's ideas on a resistant UT administration.

The Legislature's ability to defend Powers ends when its members adjourn at the end of May.

If they leave Austin without confirming Perry's new regent appointees, Perry can extend the appointment to three other people of his choice to serve until the Legislature convenes again, in 2015.

Under current law, the regents could vote on any matter before them, though a proposal before the Legislature would prevent them from voting on personnel matters.